


would you bury me next to johnny cash

by kogaritsu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Language of Flowers, M/M, Pining, Unrequited Crush, hiyori vents via flowers lmao, implications that tatsumis accident wasnt an accident
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:13:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23320741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kogaritsu/pseuds/kogaritsu
Summary: “Do you love me, Tatsumi-kun?” His tongue was dry for no reason in particular, so dry that the question felt like a mouthful of cotton. He watched the heart monitor in his periphery, just in case it showed something Tatsumi’s expression didn’t.
Relationships: Tomoe Hiyori/Kazehaya Tatsumi
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	would you bury me next to johnny cash

**Author's Note:**

  * For [otomedomoyo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/otomedomoyo/gifts).



> request for my friend!! 
> 
> flower meanings at the end

Hiyori looped pearly ribbon around his index finger, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth as he finished off the intricate bow he planned to stick to the side of his latest project. The flowers were all gathered up, cut from the greenhouse with precision and sitting loose in the vase he’d picked out. He was finally ready to put it together, though, after unwrapping the delicate lilac hydrangea he’d pleaded and begged his club leader to order in his stead. No one would know why he wanted it, why he needed it for the center of this bouquet, but it felt better to keep it detached from his name before it was delivered. Performing didn’t make him this anxious, nor did any kind of public speaking he’d been tasked with. Though speaking in private was always harder, wasn’t it?

Flowers spoke louder than Hiyori ever could, especially when it came to sensitive matters, so he devoted his nerves to tucking baby’s breath and fiddlehead ferns into the filler space of his arrangement. They complimented his pink camellias well, and made the single rose he’d picked out stick out in all its glory. Once all the flowers were placed, scrutinized, and fluffed, it still looked like something was missing. Second thinking was never a good idea, but he still snatched a few stems of azalea from the cooler as a finishing touch. Only then did the arrangement look complete, dripping with meaning that would absolutely be overlooked. His pretty ribbon made it look more professional, which was always a plus. 

Then he was off on his adventure, stopping only once to get coffee from the cafe on the way to the hospital. He didn’t need it, not really, but it was a routine he didn’t feel quite up to breaking on such an important day. It was bad luck, and Hiyori needed no more bad luck than he was already carrying around. His luck showed in the hospital being within walking distance, in the kind nurses that let him back without asking. He was a repeat visitor at that point, anyway, finding Tatsumi’s room without any help. His shades were already up for once, letting in the sunshine of the beautiful day outside. 

“Hiyori-san!” Tatsumi was _so_ excited to see him, Hiyori nearly dropped the vase hugged against his chest. He didn’t though, because it meant more to him than anything else in the present moment.

He, however, did set it on the bedside table, taking Tatsumi’s extended hand without any hesitation. Their hands fit together just as they always did, perfect in an inaccessible way that made Hiyori want to grind his teeth. Teeth grinding was an ugly quirk to have, though, so he instead gnawed the inside of his lip to ribbons. At least no one could tell that way. 

"Our hands were made for this!" He declared around the taste of blood in his mouth, feet tucked up in his chair and fingers tightly interlocked with Tatsumi's.

Tatsumi laughed, cheek squished against his pillow, "It's nice, huh? Your hands are always so warm.”

Hiyori looked at him for a long while, heart squeezing in his chest so hard it felt like heartache induced cardiac arrest. Even with a perpetual case of bedhead, Tatsumi looked like something cut from the pages of a magazine. It was unfair for him to look so unflawed, even when he was laid up in the hospital by hands so far from his god it was laughable. Just considering it made anger churn in the pit of his stomach, so he ignored that particular elephant in favor of addressing the other one. A lot of words danced around the contours of Hiyori’s teeth, half formed but never vocalized for fear of knowing their answer. It took a few tries, but finally he managed to take a deep breath in, blow it out, and find his voice to ask what his flowers couldn’t vocalize.

“Do you love me, Tatsumi-kun?” His tongue was dry for no reason in particular, so dry that the question felt like a mouthful of cotton. It was less flowery than he’d wanted it to be, but somehow still felt right. Against his better judgement, he watched the heart monitor in his periphery, just in case it showed something Tatsumi’s expression didn’t. 

“Of course I love you!” Hiyori’s heart, that’d sat still for the second he’d waited, finally beat again, and relief spread like a fast acting venom, “You’re one of my best friends.”

Hearing what he’d already inferred felt something like free falling from Cloud 9, wind whipping and ground approaching with open arms. At least he knew, though, and could stop cutting his thumbs on rose thorns and skinning his knees on stumbled words. It was cold comfort, but comfort nonetheless. Just so he wouldn’t say anything stupid, Hiyori took a long sip from his previously untouched coffee, relishing in the warmth that spread down his chest. Before he could take another, Tatsumi demanded his attention with a gentle squeeze of his hand and even gentler tone of voice.

“Hiyori-san…” He shifted in bed again, eyes soft, “Is something wrong?” 

Hiyori licked latte foam from his top lip, savoring the sweet taste like it was his last, “Mmm! I’m just fine, no need to worry about me.”

The TV kept droning on, vivid white noise pressing wetly on the backs of his eyes; it was all Hiyori could do to squeeze them shut so he wouldn’t shed any tears. Not in front of Tatsumi, at least. His recovery was the entire reason Hiyori was meant to be curled up at his bedside, and stress would be a terrible form of medicine. Smiling felt like a knife twisting in his gut, but his smile wasn’t for his own comfort. Tatsumi smiling back was Hiyori’s temporary rapture, fading as soon as it was out of sight.

The sun sat proud in the afternoon sky, warming the blankets over Tatsumi’s feet and illuminating dust in the stale air, and Hiyori felt horribly out of place.

**Author's Note:**

> flower meanings  
> purple hydrangea: a desire to understand someone   
> pink camellia: longing for you  
> babys breath: everlasting love  
> rose (coral): desire  
> azalea: take care of yourself for me
> 
> i used fiddlehead fern aesthetically and was never taught a meaning for it
> 
> twit is miyujuns


End file.
